It is known from the prior art that, for example, household appliances which include a treatment chamber in the form of a drum in which laundry is treated in a program-controlled manner have a hinged door in the front of the appliance housing. The door includes a ring which has, for example, a door glass disposed therein, making it possible to look into the treatment chamber in the closed condition.
For door closure purposes, various options are available for locking the door at the front. The door can be unlocked by a controller in the region of the control panel, and the door can then be opened by hand, thereby providing clearance for accessing the drum through the loading opening. This allows the washing machine or laundry dryer to be unloaded or loaded, as the case may be.
European Patent Application EP 2 098 627 A1, for example, describes such a front-loading laundry appliance which is provided with a door of the type described where a door glass is disposed in a ring. In order to improve the ease of operation of the door i.e., here in the unlocked condition a gripping element configured as a handle is provided on the outer ring, and here in the lateral region of the ring. The gripping element itself is disposed such that it defines the grasping opening. In the prior art, the direction designated for grasping into the gripping element is mainly from radially outward to radially inward, so that the gripping element is disposed on the door ring such that it faces radially outward. It is also known to dispose the gripping element in a direction from radially inward to radially outward, so that the grasping opening is accessible from radially inside.
Thus, the disposition of the gripping element according to the prior art defines how the user has to insert the fingertips of the hand for grasping in order to open the door. This ultimately means that when the user has, for example, loaded the appliance, he or she must always grab into the radially inner region or into the radially outer region of the door in order to establish the closed position or the open position. Another option is when, for example, the door ring is pressed by hand onto the opening in some way, which, however, may lead to false latching of the locking element. Also, especially when opening the door ring, the predetermined grasping direction is then always from inward to outward or from outward to inward, which requires the user to stand in a particular position relative to the appliance housing. Such problems arise also for people who are left-handers or right-handers.